Monday Morning Book Review--How to Bake Pi

How to Bake Pi: An Edible Exploration of the Mathematics of Mathematics by Eugenia Cheng--A math book that uses cooking and recipes to explain how and why math works the way that it does.  Cheng's style helps math lovers and non-math lovers understand the complexity of math and category theory through food.  An enjoyable read that just may need a snack to go along with it.

Monday Morning Book Review--The Calculus Diaries

The Calculus Diaries:  How Math Can Help You Lose Weight, Win in Vegas and Survive a Zombie Apocalypse by Jennifer Ouellette   Wonder why you would want to take calculus or are you taking calculus and don't see why you need that derivative or integral to survive in the future?  Then this is the book for you.  Ouellette takes on the world of calculus in an easy to read and understand way using every day examples.  The main chapters of the book cover the basics but don't delve into the mathematical details.  The history and key people involved in calculus are also profiled in the book.  This is a good read making an often abstract subject much more concrete. Anyone interested in physics or math will enjoy this book but the non-math person might discover a new reason to like math. (Disclaimer:  Ms. M taught math for 18 years before morphing into a librarian)

Monday Morning Book Review--The Dot and the Line

The Dot and the Line: a romance in lower mathematics by Norton Juster--April is Mathematics Appreciation Month (Library and Poetry, too), so today's book  embraces the geometry of lines and curves into a fun look at romance. The line competes for the dot's affections by transforming himself into a variety of shapes. The illustrations and the quaintness of the story provides a quick happy read that draws the reader in to the geometric beauty of mathematics.

Wednesday Website--Brightstorm

Need math help? Looking for another explanation...try Brightstorm.com a new website that describes the "mission at Brightstorm is to be the best place to learn in the world. We believe that great learning starts with great teaching. So, we find the best teachers, film them teaching, and build learning solutions around those great teacher videos. Our current solutions target the high-school age curriculum, including Math, SAT, ACT and Advanced Placement subjects."